Christmas Mouse Cake Topper

Learn how to make this sweet little Christmas band mouse cake topper with this handy step-by-step tutorial. By Rhu Strand from Pimp My Cake (www.pimpmycake.co.uk) For the mouse: 125g (4½oz) light brown sugarpaste Small amounts of red, white and Pale pink sugarpaste Black dragees or sugarpaste for eyes Special equipment: Heart shaped cutter Dresden tool Ball tool 7.5cm (3in) circle cutter for waistcoat and selection of smaller cutters (or use piping nozzles) Bamboo skewer Dry spaghetti Edible glue Method: 1 Start with the body. Use the heart shaped cutter to cut the feet. 2 Roll a fist-sized ball of the light brown sugarpaste and make into a pear shape for the body. Coax the narrow end of this to one side to create a tummy. 3 Glue the body to the feet and insert the bamboo skewer straight down through the body.             4 Cut a teardrop shape in white sugarpaste for the front of the body (image 2).               5 For the head, using about half as much as you did for the body, make a teardrop shape of light brown sugarpaste for the head. 6 Either flatten the pointed end or cut off with a knife. Roll a pea-size piece of white sugarpaste, place onto a board and twist into a point. Slightly push the point towards one side and glue to the end of the face. 7 Use the Dresden tool to create the mouth. Push in under the muzzle area with the spoon shape facing downwards. Use the ball tool to create sockets for the eyes and a small dent at the end of the muzzle for the nose. 8 For the tongue, roll a very small amount of pale pink sugarpaste into a teardrop. Flatten, mark a line through the middle top to bottom and cut off the pointed end. Put a small amount of glue into the mouth and insert the tongue. 9 Using either small balls of black sugarpaste (about the same size as the end of the ball tool you used to make the eye sockets) or some small black dragees, insert into the eye sockets. Roll a small ball of pale pink sugarpaste and glue to the end of the muzzle for the nose. Trim the skewer and pop the head on top of the body.             10 For the ears, choose what size you want the ears to be, roll the light brown sugarpaste and cut two circles. Roll and cut two smaller circles in pale pink and glue on top of the light brown. Pinch the bottom of each circle and snip off the excess. Glue to the side of the head. 11 Roll some thin white sausages and glue to the top of the head for the hair.             12 For the waistcoat, roll out the red sugarpaste and cut a 7.5cm (3in) circle. Use a piping nozzle to cut a circle in the centre and then cut from the centre out to the bigger circle at about 10 o'clock and 2 o'clock. It is the area between these two that will make the waistcoat, so remove the smaller section.       13 Wrap the waistcoat around the mouse. 14 For the hat – roll a small amount of red paste into a cylinder and cut a small round black circle about the same diameter. 15 For the feather, roll a small amount of white, make into a teardrop and flatten. Mark a line from top to bottom and then score feather lines from the centre outwards. Glue to front of hat (image 6).         16 If necessary, put a small stick of dry spaghetti into the head to keep the hat in place. 17 For the baton, place a short piece of spaghetti into a spare bit of sugarpaste and paint with gold lustre paint. 18 Make two small balls from sugarpaste, one slightly larger than the other, and place on one end of the spaghetti. Paint these gold too. 19 Roll a long piece of light brown paste for the tail and glue in place. Put a small piece of dry spaghetti in the shoulder area at a 45 degree angle like a coat hook, for attaching the arms. 20 For the arms, take two pea-size pieces of light brown paste and roll into a sausage. Roll more in the middle to form a slight bulge at each end of the sausage. Secure the arms to the body where the spaghetti 'coat hooks' are with some edible glue and push the baton through one of the mouse's paws.